Lord, how can man preach thy eternal word? He is a brittle crazy glass; Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford This glorious and transcendent place, To be a window, through thy grace. But when thou dost anneal in glass thy story, Making thy life to shine within The holy preachers, then the light and glory Most reverend grows, and more doth win; Which else shows waterish, bleak and thin. Doctrine and life, colors and light, in one When they combine and mingle, bring A strong regard and awe; but speech alone Doth vanish like a flaring thing, And in the ear, not conscience, ring. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CANDLE INDOORS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 98 by PHILIP SIDNEY THE MAHOGANY TREE by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY TEMPEST by ANITA CONCHITA ALLMON TO THE GIRL WHO HELPED IN THE WAR by JOSEPHINE DODGE DASKAM BACON PSALM 71 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |